St. Margaret of Scotland, St. Gertrude the Great

Friday of the Thirty-second week in Ordinary Time


Commentary of the day
Origen : The ark of the Church

Reading

Wisdom 13,1-9.
For all men were by nature foolish who were in ignorance of God, and who from the good things seen did not succeed in knowing him who is, and from studying the works did not discern the artisan; But either fire, or wind, or the swift air, or the circuit of the stars, or the mighty water, or the luminaries of heaven, the governors of the world, they considered gods. Now if out of joy in their beauty they thought them gods, let them know how far more excellent is the Lord than these; for the original source of beauty fashioned them. Or if they were struck by their might and energy, let them from these things realize how much more powerful is he who made them. For from the greatness and the beauty of created things their original author, by analogy, is seen. But yet, for these the blame is less; For they indeed have gone astray perhaps, though they seek God and wish to find him. For they search busily among his works, but are distracted by what they see, because the things seen are fair. But again, not even these are pardonable. For if they so far succeeded in knowledge that they could speculate about the world, how did they not more quickly find its LORD?


Ps 19(18),2-3.4-5.
The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky proclaims its builder's craft. One day to the next conveys that message; one night to the next imparts that knowledge. There is no word or sound; no voice is heard; Yet their report goes forth through all the earth, their message, to the ends of the world. God has pitched there a tent for the sun;


Lk 17,26-37.
As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man; they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; on the day when Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all. So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, a person who is on the housetop and whose belongings are in the house must not go down to get them, and likewise a person in the field must not return to what was left behind. Remember the wife of Lot. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it. I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. And there will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken, the other left."

They said to him in reply, "Where, Lord?" He said to them, "Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather."


Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB



Commentary of the day

Origen (c.185-253), priest and theologian
Homilies on Genesis, II, 3 (SC 7b, p.89)

The ark of the Church

Insofar as the meanness of my mind allows, I think that the flood which almost put an end to the world in those days is the symbol of the end of the world, an end that must truly happen. The Lord himself declared it when he said: “In the days of Noah, men were buying, selling, building, marrying and giving their daughters in marriage, and the flood came and destroyed them all. So will be the coming of the Son of Man.” In this text it would very much seem as though the Lord describes in one and the same way both the flood that has already taken place and the end of the world that he is pointing to in the future.

And so, in days of old, the aged Noah was told to make an ark and take into it with him not only his sons and family but beasts of every kind. Similarly, at the consummation of the ages, the Lord Jesus Christ, our new Noah, the only “good and blameless man” (Gn 6,9), was told by his Father to make an ark of fashioned wood, giving it measurements that are full of divine mysteries (cf Gen 6,15). This is shown by one of the psalms, which says: “Ask of me and I will give you the nations for an inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession,” (Ps 2,8). And so he built an ark containing various shelters to house all kinds of animals. One of the prophets speaks of these dwellings when he writes: “Go, my people, enter into your chambers; hide yourselves for a brief moment, until the wrath is past,” (Is 26,20). Thus there is a mysterious analogy between that people which is saved in the Church and all those creatures, both men and animals, saved from the flood inside the ark.